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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (April 10, 1985)
y Newsflash: Francea Schoen-Neespapar Rooai U n iv e rs ity o f Oregon L ib ra ry tu ra n e , Oregon 97403 - As the Observer went to press we teemed that a prehminary vote by the Portland City Council has made Corinto. Nicaragua. Portland's latest sister city. A final vote on the matter wiH take place rwxx weoneeoey Street teen Census Tommy Hearns Ira D. Mumford Volume XV, Number 24 April 10, 1965 25C Copy PORTLAND OBSERVER j VS Two Sections *» « » Freebasing: The cost of compulsion by Lanita Duke If It s Tuesday, thia must ba springl S taff photog raphor, Richard J. Brown, tip toed through the tulips for a glimpsa of glorious sun in Portland's park blocks this week. South African reforms debated by Robert Lothian A South Africa debate sponsored by the W orld Affairs Council cov ered all the bases Thursday night. Calvin Van Pelt, former South A f rican consul in Portland, painted the apartheid regime in a positive light. The government is moderating under President P. W . Botha, he said, and conditions for Blacks arc better in South Africa than in other African countries. Van Pelt decried "agitators out to destroy the country. . .to what pur pose I don't kn o w ," and "the ex tremely well-financed, well-publicized campaign against South Africa in the U .S .” Reed College history professor David G ro ff, an African history ex pert, called for Black representation in South A frica’s government as a so lution to the current crisis. “ The root o f the problem is power and whether it will he shared with the Black m ajority,’ ’ said G ro ff. Bu> Black represeniaiion is not in the works because ihc South African white rulers do not want to give up their power, he said. Van Pelt alleged that Blacks end up fighting each other in countries that have achieved Black majority rule. In Zimbabwe, “ it will end in the extermination o f one or the other of the tribes," he said. He hinted that South Africa faced a similar situation under Black majority rule. " I f there were 80 million Blacks in this country, would you vole to change the laws?,” he asked the audi ence. G ro ff said that any moderation oc curring in South Africa is not coming out o f a change o f heart in the white leadership, but from political pres- SJd L tztk . David QroM. Calvin Van Palt at World Affaira Council da- bata on South Africa. (Photo: Richard J. Brownl a. sure from below. ‘ ‘ Power never yields without pres sure," he said, quoting Frederick Douglass, Black American leader of the late 1800s. "W e shouldn't make more o f a re former out o f Botha than he is,” said G ro ff. South Africa remains a police slate in spite o f the reforms, he said. " I t ’s very simple for the government to put away those it doesn’t like.” G ro ff said that reforms and m od erating tendencies are fine as far as they go, but they don’t go far enough. The Sullivan Principles, for instance, which are supposed to guarantee equal employment and better wages for Black employees o f U.S. firms in South Africa, are voluntary and only affect a tiny percentage o f Black workers, he said. Van Pell alluded to the Sullivan Principles often as evidence o f prog ress in South Africa. "They are very significant," he said. But the Sullivan Principles and other minor reforms could actually end up having a harmful effect by becoming a smokescreen to hide the true nature o f apartheid, according to G ro ff. “ By diverting our attention from the true power relations in South A f rica,” the Sullivan Principles “ might harm the process o f Black empower ment,” he said. Van Pelt referred to the South Africa divestment hill being consid ered by the Oregon legislature. " I n vestment is a fickle thing," he said “ I f we destroy it, everybody loses. W e’ve thrown out the baby with the bath w ater." (Pieaie turn to Page 9. (Olumn 1/ » .f. .4 . . • G R A S S R O O T N E W S , N .W . — Freebasing, the smoking of cocaine, totally captivates its users into a coun ter culture where there are no rules and into a mental and physical roller coaster leaving them "based-out." M arne Dawn Markegard, a psychi atric nurse lor Comprehensive O p tion for Drug Abusers, Inc. (CO DA ), said icebasers arc the most difficult clients to treat. “ Freebasers are into immediate gratification and they want therapy to be the same. The coke is magic. Noi only do they feel better, they leel wonderful And it slays magical as long as ihey can a f ford it. There is nothing we can give a client that will lo p lh at rush." Freebasers spend a great deal of time and a tremendous amount of money in search o f that first rush. "W hen I was based out, the first hit was like heaven opening in my mind. Il was the best leel I had ever had It lasts for a few minutes — then my mental state quickly went to hell in a handbasket," remembered a former uyer. All current and former freebasers describe their cocaine intoxication as an ultimate high. " I ’ll compare free- basing to sex, except sex is cheaper. You go to a party now, the girls don't want to know if you have a car or a job. They want to know, do you have any coke." The drug culture's magazine, “ High Times" called the Ireebase high Ihc “ cerebral orgasm" and a local user added. " It's ihc best in the world and it’s also the worst." In the search for this rush, basers smoke up grams o f cocaine and hun dreds and even thousands of dollars. After they experience lhai first rush, the compulsion replaces reason and base “ binges" are the result. “ In one binge I smoked up my car and house note. I f I hadn't given my wife money for food I would have based it up. Whenever I think about all the money I smoked up, I get a knot in my throat I let the pipe take control.” Freebasing is a treacherous ob session. "Y o u just got to have it. I got friends who pay the coke man before they pay the Visa card ," one former baser said. " I really wasn’t that into the high. It was what it did to my de pression. I said to myself, "Forget the bills; let’s hide your problems and buy some coke'." Markegard added, "W hen you’re hasing, your job doesn't matter. G o ing to work is not thai important be cause you arc missing days, because you are so wired-up, binged or de pressed that you can’t go in. Basers start dealing with a lot o f criminal ac tivity and change their peer group. Fnendship and family are no longer im portant. Freebasing becomes the central focus in life. All you think about is where the next hit is coming fro m .” She said after the initial high, basers hit low quickly. "Basers expe rience a loss o f impulse control dur ing this post-frechasc depression. They do things without thinking. No one in this d im e has a worse case of the guilts than freebasers. They rob, lie and steal to get money to base up." Among the myths associated with cocaine abuse is the qualitative and quantitive increase in sexual potency. " T h a t’s not tru e," interjected a for mer user. "Y o u might think about it, but it’s all in your mind. Besides those into basing aren’t into sex. They’re into basing!" Basers are restless, experience anx iety, irritability, attention span changes, paranoia and severe depression. Free- basing erodes your pocketbook, fam ily and personality. So, why are Port landers freebasing? Clarkie, a 19- year-old Black male, said, "Because it’s a x il." ‘ ‘ I've got friends basing and that’s all they do. They aren't into music or girls or life. Their life is the pipe. When I started to see my friends change because o f free base, I left it alone," he said. There are horror stories involving basers who are "sprung" — a state of compulsion where the craving for the drug is so strong that obtaining one more hit becomes life’s only mindset. In base houses and at after-hour joints, basers reveal stories involving (hern or their friends as Ihey do the impossible io purchase the drug And IV ri.U H o vX it's in the base houses where free- base hits are sold like alcohol in a nightclub. “ I knew one man who offered his wife to my man for a hit. Those types o f things made me leave the pipe alone,’’ a former baser recalled. “ Whai about that dude who sold his new car for $700 to hase-up?," another baser said. At one lime, only dealers could afford to freehase. But the increased availability o f cocaine made it a f fordable to all who can pay the cost o f compulsion. “ Not only do you base up your money, job and family, hut a part of you is gone. When that happens, you wonder, 'W hy did I hase-up my soul?’ " ’ ’' H T (Photo: Richard J. Brown) B.U.F. lauds victories by ¡.Anna Duke G R A S S R O O T N E W S , N .W . — One hundred strong marched locally in unison with 13 other cities across the country in the fifth annual March Against Racist Violence, Saturday. April 6th. Led by two human rights pioneers. Rev. John Jackson and Ronnie Hern don, marchers stepped in tune to "Forw ard, Together — Backward, Never." Dedicating the march to the late Rev Ira M um ford, Herndon told the crowd their presence made all the difference in the world. “ Last year at this time we were saying, wouldn’t it be nice if we got rid o f Frank Ivancie. This year we're saying, we got rid of Frank Ivancie. " I a si year we were saying, wouldn't it he good If C U B passed Now we’re saying we got C U B passed." Herndon told the crowd comprised of all races and ages: " W e can make a change in this city. Politicians used to pass over Albina, but we have a high er vote turnout than other precincts. Now, everybody wants to come to you and me.” Special guest speaker was Lorenzo Carlisle, an anti-apartheid worker in the Bay area Right now there’s a boycott against South African ships. Bay area dockworkers refuse to un load South African cargo. "South Africa will be free because people arc demanding to be tree,” Carlisle said. He added the worst thing South Africa could have done was legalize trade unions, which they did in 1979 under pressure. “ Trade unions will teach the people to or ganize, and once they are organized, then freedom will com e." NEA backs civil rights bill W A S H IN G T O N , D C . -C o n gress was recently urged by the N a tional Education Association to ap prove bipartisan legislation designed to restore civil rights protections for minorities, women, the handicapped, and older Americans. "M a n y o f us had thought this na tion had moved significantly away from the clutches o f discrmination, but instead we are disturbed to find ourselves in the position o f fighting old battles,” declared N E A President M ary Hatwood Futrell. Futrell commented on the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1985 — legislation Congress is considering to restore anti-discrimination statutes that were weakened by a Supreme » • '« .• • f »• Court decision (Grove City v Belli in 1984 Futrell noted that the 1985 civil nghts legislation "does not broaden the laws in any way” but merely re stores those civil rights statutes ap proved by Congress before Grove City. She testified before a joint hear ing of the House Education and I a - bor Committee and the House Judi ciary Subcommittee on Civil a id Constitutional Rights. Passage o f the measure, said the N E A President, would ascertain that federal dollars arc not used to en courage or subsidize discrimination barred by four major civil rights laws enacted in the last 20 years.
